MONROE, La. – It's always a great day to be a Warhawk, but some days are better than others, and today is one of those days. ULM's women's tennis team defeated the Ragin' Cajuns 4-3 at home; today's win marked the end of an era for senior
Stefana Andrei as she celebrated her final match at Raymond Heard Stadium.
"The whole team is very happy that we got the win today," said Andrei. "It's particularly special because it's my last match at home, so it means a lot that we were able to all put in the team effort, show great fight, and get the win."
Sunday's win is the ninth straight for the Warhawks in the ULM-ULL series, since 2003- the Warhawks have beaten the Ragin Cajuns in ten of their 13 meetings.
After hours and hours of unexpected rain delay, ULM and ULL finally took to the courts this afternoon. The Ragin Cajuns' took an early lead after earning the doubles point with two wins in the two and three positions.
Despite dropping the doubles-point, Andrei and her partner
Karolina Snita defeated their Ragin' Cajun Opponents Elena Sava and Abby Johnson (6-1).
ULM (8-5) wasted no time in bouncing back during singles play, taking down their ULL counter-parts in the one, two, and three spots in straight sets.
The first to rise with a victory was freshman
Karolina Silwanowicz, who defeated Lafayette's Sava (6-4, 6-0). Andrei followed with a (6-1, 6-3) win over Kelly Drew, and with ULM's third point was Snita, who earned a (6-3, 6-1) win against Ragin Cajun Florian Picaut.
ULL (11-7) would follow with wins on courts five and six over
Bianca Koen and
Madalina Grigoriu respectively.
It would come down to the final set, of the final singles match, between freshman
Teodora Radu and ULL's Dana Radovanovic. Radu would drop the first set (4-6) to Radovanovic before claiming sets two and three on a 6-4 count to give ULM its 4-3 win over the Cajuns.
"Teo was very competitive at the end of the match, and we are all thrilled that she managed to clinch the match for us," Andrei said.
Andrei signed off on her final match in Monroe, "I have loved being a part of the ULM tennis team. I will forever be grateful to both [head women's tennis coach] Terrance and [assistant coach] RJ for giving me the opportunity to be here, and for everything they've done for me."
Next up for the Warhawks is Tulane, on the road later this week on Friday (Mar.30). After the Green Wave, ULM will face back-to-back Sun Belt opponents in San Marcos- Texas State on Friday (Apr.6) and Arkansas State on Saturday (Apr.7).
